172 BRITISH BIRDS WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



Family COL YMBIDsE. 



BLACK-THROATED DIVER 



Colywbus arctic us, LlNN. 



THE Black- throated Diver breeds in many localities in the Highlands of 

 Scotland, in Perthshire, Sutherland, Caithness, Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, 

 and Argyll. It is not uncommon in the Outer Hebrides, and breeds on fresh- 

 water lochs ; to Skye it is only a scarce visitor, but has been known, according 

 to the Rev. H. A. Macpherson, to breed on a loch in Soay. It has been observed 

 in the Orkneys on some of the lochs in summer, but, in Saxby's time at all 

 events, it was unknown in the Shetlands ; recently, however, it has been stated to 

 breed in those islands, but the record has not yet been satisfactorily substantiated. 

 As a winter visitor to our coasts it is the rarest of the Divers, and on its southern 

 wanderings it shows some taste for inland waters. To Lakeland it is a very rare 

 visitor, and the same may be said of the Lancashire coast. It is not unknown 

 in immature plumage on the Welsh coast, and has occurred in breeding dress on 

 one occasion at least. It seldom ascends the Bristol Channel, and has only once 

 been procured in Somerset. To Devonshire it is a casual visitor of rather rare 

 occurrence from October to March, nearly always in immature dress, and on the 

 Cornish coast its status is the same. In Dorset it appears almost every winter, 

 but rarely in breeding plumage. It occasionally visits Hampshire in winter, and 

 occurs off the Sussex coast, chiefly in immature dress, but it is the rarest of the 

 three Divers there. Off Northumberland and Durham it is said to occur frequently 

 in winter, but in Norfolk it is rarely met with on the coast ; in the early months 

 of the year a good many, chiefly immature birds, have occurred, but most of those 

 procured have been on inland waters. It is somewhat rare on the Essex coast, 

 but has occasionally occurred after storms in an exhausted condition far inland. 

 It occasionally wanders, or is storm driven, to the more inland parts of England, 

 but more rarely than either of the other Divers. To Ireland it is a rare visitor 

 in winter, but it is seen also on its northward migration late in spring. 



The Black-throated Diver is an almost circumpolar species. It breeds in 

 Scotland, Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, and across Siberia to the Pacific. In the 

 west, as far south as Pornerania and the Baltic Provinces ; and in the east in 



